Half of the Melodifestivalen 2018 entries have already performed at one of the first two semi-finals. And with four male acts heading direkt til final, the ladies have been left to battle it out at Andra Chansen.
Given their success, John Lunvik, Benjamin Ingrosso, Samir & Viktor, and Liamoo will have to wait almost three more weeks before their songs hit the radio and charts. This delay is standard SVT policy, done in the hope that keeping the songs off the air will make for a more level playing field at the final.
But nothing is stopping any of the eliminated acts — or of course Sigrid Bernson, Renaida, Margaret, or Mimi Werner — from staking their territory on the airwaves early. Quite a few of these entries have already made bold appearances on Sweden’s Spotify Top 50 and iTunes charts.
Melodifestivalen acts in the top 50
As of Monday’s chart, the highest-ranking Melodifestivalen track on Spotify isn’t even entirely from Sweden. Yes, it’s Poland’s Margaret, who brought the Caribbean heat in Deltävling 2 with “In My Cabana”.
The track immediately surged to number 19 on the Spotify charts on Sunday. It fell to 30 the next day.
Next in the queue, but quite a way behind, is Sigrid Bernson. Her energetic “Patrick Swayze” lies at 41. Ida Redig and Renaida round out the top 50 at 49 and 50 respectively.
Mimi Werner has yet to break into the Top 50 with “Songburning”.
An updated chart for Tuesday has yet to be published at the time of writing.
Comparing to iTunes
There’s no question that the Spotify Top 50 is a more accurate metric when it comes to measuring song popularity in Sweden, but the iTunes charts are still relevant, and they’re telling a different story.
Once again, it’s Margaret leading the pack, but on iTunes she’s sitting atop the throne at number one.
For a while, Ida Redig was right behind her with “Allting som vi sa”. She has since fallen to seven. The other Melfest entries in the chart, as of Wednesday morning, are Edward Blom (20), Mimi Wener (48), Stiko Per Larsson (49), Sigrid Bernson (84), and Jonas Gardell (106). Renaida is not in the top 200.
No 1 on ?? iTunes
Tack för att ni lyssnar på min låt! pic.twitter.com/IYnZTwczoD— Margaret (@MARGARETofc) February 12, 2018
Cracking open the Swedish pop scene
In a recent interview with wiwibloggs, Margaret made clear her intent to forge a stronger connection to Sweden. She claimed to be “here for Melodifestivalen… just to be known by the Swedish audience.”
And even though she reminded us that she does her laundry in Warsaw, she made sure to express that she has always felt supported in Sweden, from her first contact with a Swedish record label until “In My Cabana”.
“In My Cabana”, not “Havana”
It’s hard not to immediately notice the similarities between “In My Cabana” and Camilo Cabello’s most recent number one single “Havana”, but it turns out that the simultaneous Latin-themed pop hits are nothing but a coincidence.
Linnea Deb, a famed member of “The Family” and the author of “In My Cabana”‘s lyrics, noted that both the lyrics and a demo of Margaret’s track were created during a song-writing camp over the summer. When “Havana” was released on September 8, there was no looking back. Just goes to show that world-class songwriters know what listeners want to hear!
Deltävling 3
This weekend’s show will air live from Malmö, where another seven acts will do what they can to win a coveted spot in the final in Stockholm. Rehearsals will start this Thursday, and wiwibloggs will be covering all the action.
Are you excited to see Margaret topping the charts with “In My Cabana”? Let us know in the comments section below.
great song ,really
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQLmYaSCDYw&feature=youtu.be Poland 2018 <3
Well to be honest, the song is already available internationally on Spotify. The rest of the Melfest entries are still geoblocked. Congrats to Margaret though. She doing some international promo now via Sweden’s Melfest 🙂
It’s so embarrassing to see nordics do a latino-sunny type of song…honey, go back to being a viking.
Can we once and for all end the stupid comments of this song being a copy of Havana? Firstly Linnea Deb said that the song was written during the songwriters camp a few months before Havana was released. Secondly Camilla doesn’t have a trademark on ‘uh na na’. It’s like saying that Beyonce has the rights to ‘uh oh uh oh oh no no’, Vengaboys to ‘boom boom boom’ or Hiacynth Bucket to ‘the lady of the house speaking’. I liked Havana when it came out. I like In My Cabana too. There’s space in the music world for both… Read more »
Shuffla would be number one, if it would be available
Those who once said that Margaret is “talentless” are officially wrong. 🙂
she cant sing live.
No we’re not. Everything in Meldofestivalen sounds okay because of the Playback ^^ Margaret isn’t a good singer, that won’t ever Change.
Thats why she gone to Melodie fest. Because in playback she doesnt have problems with singing which she could have with polish KE in live singing…..
What should Poland be proud of? It is a swedish product, written and produced by a bunch of Swedes, averagely sung by a polish gurl.
In latino style 😛
Well that is hardly a surprise, being such a copycat of Camila Cabello’s Habana…
yea really cabana = havana , copy 😀 😀 😀
The article is misleading readers since the 4 songs that quilified directly to the final are not available in iTunes and Spotify yet.
I’m surprised Second Chance inclusions are available because some of them will be in the final after all.
Yeah, I doubt that she’ll even be Close to win Melfest. I’m sad to say that Shuffla is the best song by now. If there won’t be anything better, the have to send Samir & Viktor… which sounds weird, because I never thought they’d ever have the best song 😀 (Am I allowed to say that I actually like it much more than the last two swedish Songs from 2017 and 2016…?) I guess Dotter or Mariette will win anyway, I think they’ll also bring something good. I’m not a fan of Mariette and her Music, but maybe she’ll convince… Read more »
“Shuffla” would suffer from comparisions to SunStroke Project and their “Hey Mamma!”. I know how both presentations are different but at the same time there’s plenty of the same about them.
I know… That would be sad since I like both songs and I’d even say Shuffla is better, because it has so much energy and because it’s so fast. I don’t expect them to win anyway, that would be miracle. The juries will destroy them and there are other favourites appealing to the audience more than them I guess ^^
If Sweden sends Samir & Viktor i doubt they’ll get through that really tough semifinal
Doesn’t Change the fact, that it’s the best song when nothing better is to come in semi 3 or 4. I didn’t talk about qualification.
Havanna oh na na…sweden very poor song writters with 0 originality = Cabanna oh na na, “oh wait that’s not enough on ESC” = Let’s go ape on my cabana… = Euro fans going crazy = Europeans and ESC continue to be mocked by having ridiculous songs winning…
Hope she pulls a Robin Stjernberg and wins. I ain’t here for that Julia Michaels copy that’s #1 in the Melfest betting odds.
Queen Dotter will slay Margherita sis but nice try…
Polegend, 2-3 weeks ago you were writing fifty comments each day about how ‘In My Cabana’ is going to be simmillar to ‘Havana’ and how it is going to flop. And now you hope that it wins ?!? So, maybe you should wait to Dotter’s song release as well ?
Never said it was gonna flop, I just knew it sounded like Havana and in fact it does. Oh na na na, bish.
In fact? Please elaborate. Following your train of thoughts every song with ‘la la la’ is a copy of some traditional, let’s say Irish song written around 99 BC…
Too bad that Ma?gorzata Jamro?y doesn’t stand a chance to queen Dotter who can actually sing 🙂
Malgosia’s mic feed sounded good, but again this is a song contest and most of Sweden’s representatives can’t sing anyway. 🙂
That’s not true. (And you know it.)
Other way around: Sweden’s representatives sing just fine
Margaret won’t win:
She is already 5th in app voting
And I don’t see the jury voting for her average vocals and not fun-enough song! Oh na na
IDA REDIG DESERVED TO GO TO THE FINAL UGH I’m done
I agree. Samir & Viktor were a trainwreck.
I hope Sweden will send Samir and Viktor, they deserve to be in Eurovision family after so much trying. Can’t see anything better coming from Sweden, last year the climax was supposed to be Loreen and I still laugh of that lady running on stage with the bag.
Margaret can’t deliver live, no stage presence.
Samir & Viktor were a trainwreck.
Margaret is mi favourite also John Lunvik, I hope she make final song is great and different ?
It means nothing. Edward Blom was number 1 and is still number 3 on charts. Number 19 isn’t that impressive. It means she is headed for a minor hit, just like Cool Me Down.
Despite all fanboys here giddying it has no significance.
Edward Blom was #1 last week on Itunes in Sweden xD
Anyway, we all know Shuffla is the Bop the will lead Swedish Spotify and hit another #1 in the Swedish Chart for Samir & Viktor 🙂
Stop trying to overhype Margaret, Sigrid was also no.1 on itunes for a few days after her semifinal and edward blom was no.1 too. by the time we get to semifinal 3 there will be new songs at no.1, margaret isn’t dominating the pack or anything it’s expected that at least one of the songs will top the itunes chart after the semi is over and this time it’s just margaret
Don’t let the COOL ME DOWN injustice repeat. Send her, Sweden. Poland were not an expert at Eurovision, whereas Sweden obviously are. Send her and prove that Eurovision is not a joke or Scandi drama. It’s a serous competition and has worldwide charting potential hit songs. This song and this cute girl is a star. I listen to this on iTune on repeat.
The difference is, that Cool me down was actually a good song, in my cabana is just a let down. There where already a handful of Songs, that are better including ”Dance you off” ”Shuffla” ”Songburning” and ”Last breath” and we haven’t even heard the Songs from semi 3 and 4. The Swedes would be completely dumb to send Margaret with a medicore song and bad singing… Get down from your Hype Train.
I like none of the songs you mentioned. So far the best song in Mefest. No need to get off the train. The journey with this song takes me to Summer holidays, sun and seaside…
margaret will not be sent to eurovision, not a chance. there are far better songs and i don’t think we’d choose a non scandinavian to represent us
Those are the four songs that are better than “In my cabana”. I expect that Margaret gets the easiest AC matchup and plays the Ace Wilder role at this year’s final.
I predict Margaret will face off against Renaida in Andra Chansen
They don’t put two number 3 finishers against each other!
You’re assuming that you know what position it got in the Semi
I’m not assuming I know with quite certainty that Renaida and Margaret came 3rd.
Seeing how the results haven’t been published you breach a contract.
They were called out in random order..